Live life with Sabor Latino! Join La Tertulia and celebrate the richness and diversity of the Spanish language and Latino cultures in the United States. And especially for Spanish teachers: spice up your classes with Sabor Latino using Chispa Productions videos!
The wonderful creative genius behind this exciting new site is none other than the Web Muse herself, Anita Larson. Boy, did she and her amazing team of designers have to be patient with me. We went back and forth on the logo, the borders, the colors ... everything! (Those little green dots in the border? That was an entire day's worth of discussion with my husband and just about everyone else I knew...)
And then there was the moment of panic today when I accidentally erased my entire home page ... But Anita saved the day, and we were back online within the hour.
So click right on over to Chispa to check out what all the excitement is about ... and find some great tips for teaching Spanish with sabor latino!
Sure, there are now more salsa clubs and salsa classes and even salsa conferences than ever before.
But it's not the same salsa that I first knew. Somehow, salsa has lost its soul.
Back in the late 70s, when I was a college senior and Gloria Estefan was just one of the singers in a new band called "Miami Sound Machine", I learned how to dance salsa in the apartment of my Venezuelan friends. It was simple, and it was fun. Grab your partner, feel the beat, and move.
If you wanted to get fancy, maybe occasionally you and your partner would throw a turn in there. Or you could add that little extra beat with your foot ("la patita") before stepping into the next step.
But mostly, you wanted to feel the music and enjoy dancing with your partner. You could even chat while dancing. Either way – verbally or nonverbally – salsa was about communicating with your dance partner and enjoying the music.
Not so anymore.
Salsa has somehow become a competitive sport. How many turns can you do in one beat?? What's your signature flash move? Don't forget to throw your arm up in the air with a flourish every time you turn or step away from your partner! And do you dance on 1 or on 2?
Communicate with your partner? Enjoy the music? Not a chance. And converse? ¿Estás loco?
Give me old-style salsa any day ... and give salsa back its soul!
The beat is infectious (just like the lyrics say) and the lyrics are just a riot – a pure celebration of Spanglish with a Puerto Rican accent. I love how they unhesitatingly rhyme "esmalte" with "taparte" and "retratarte!"
Take out the reference to nalgas and tapa rabo (not sure I want to explain the origin of that one to a class...) ... and I guess gloss over some of the other suggestive phrases if you have a young or sensitive class... and this would be a great song to teach informal commands, especially commands with reflexive pronouns. I've highlighted the commands below .... and hey, you've even got a matching negative reflexive command (Ponte and No te pongas), a command with both a reflexive and an object pronoun (súbetela), and some subjunctive to boot!
So what do you say, Spanish teachers? If this song is too risqué, then find another one ... but use popular music to make Spanish popular! ¡Salganse del closet, y atrévanse!
Atrévete, te, te, te Salte del closet, Destápate, quítate el esmalte Deja de taparte que nadie va a retratarte Levántate, ponte hyper Préndete, sácale chispas al estárter Préndete en fuego como un lighter Sacúdete el sudor como si fueras un wiper Que tú eres callejera, “Street Fighter”
Cambia esa cara de seria Esa cara de intelectual, de enciclopedia Que te voy a inyectar con la bacteria Pa’ que des vuelta como machina de feria Señorita intelectual, ya se que tienes El área abdominal que va a explotar Como fiesta patronal, que va a explotar Como palestino… Yo sé que a ti te gusta el pop-rock latino Pero es que el reggaeton se te mete por los intestinos Por debajo de la falda como un submarino Y te saca lo de indio taino Ya tú sabes, en tapa-rabo, mama En el nombre de Agüeybana No hay mas na’, para na’ que yo te vo’a mentir Yo sé que yo también quiero consumir de tu perejil Y tú viniste amazónica como Brasil Tú viniste a matarla como “Kill Bill” Tú viniste a beber cerveza de barril Tú sabes que tú conmigo tienes refill
Atrévete, te, te, te Salte del closet, Destápate, quítate el esmalte Deja de taparte que nadie va a retratarte Levántate, ponte hyper Préndete, sácale chispas al estárter Préndete en fuego como un lighter Sacúdete el sudor como si fueras un wiper Que tú eres callejera, “Street Fighter”
Hello, deja el show Súbete la mini-falda Hasta la espalda Súbetela, deja el show, más alta Que ahora vamo’a bailar por to’a la jarda Mira, nena, ¿quieres un sipi? No importa si eres rapera o eres hippie Si eres de Bayamón o de Guaynabo City Conmigo no te pongas picky Esto es hasta abajo, cógele el tricky Esto es fácil, estoy es un mamey ¿Que importa si te gusta Green Day? ¿Que importa si te gusta Coldplay? Esto es directo, sin parar, one-way Yo te lo juro de que por ley Aquí to’a las boricuas saben karate Ellas cocinan con salsa de tomate Mojan el arroz con un poco de aguacate Pa’ cosechar nalgas de 14 quilates
Atrévete, te, te, te Salte del closet, Destápate, quítate el esmalte Deja de taparte que nadie va a retratarte Levántate, ponte hyper Préndete, sácale chispas al estárter Préndete en fuego como un lighter Sacúdete el sudor como si fueras un wiper Que tú eres callejera, “Street Fighter”
